The old cliche is that you get into the bike industry so you don't have to actually "work" and just get to ride bikes all the time. Dammit, somebody lied to me!
It's actually quite a bit of work trying to "run" a bike brand. Even with many of the tasks handled by other people, it's a lot of work trying to grow sales, develop sales and marketing strategies, develop bikes, maintain vendor relationships (I'm still waiting for the folks at Campagnolo to send me a Record Carbon group to compliment my Dura Ace group- if anybody's reading this), order bikes, check spec information on the new bikes, write a catalog, get the sample bikes built, do photo shoots (and my publicist was not able to get me my non-fat soy latte the way I like it)... all the "little things" that end up being really big things if they don't get done and done right.
I had a crazy and frantic conversation with a saddle supplier today, confirming a change to a PO and then correcting the change and communicating that info to 3 different countries and contacts involved. Something simple can easily become anything but simple very quickly... and can become an expensive mistake.
If I weren't so freaking busy, I'd offer up more examples, but I have about 100 pages of product spec information to clear up and confirm corrections on. I'm going blind reading all this tiny little print... this is how much I suffer to bring you the best possible bikes. It's all about my love for you; don't you feel special now?
Tim
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4 comments:
Great post, Tim. Thanks for the inside and honest look at what it takes to run a bike brand.
I once read somewhere that the true test of an occupation is how much you love the tedious parts of the job. Every job has their rock star parts as well as the grocery bagger parts.
It's amazing all you do to get the bikes ready to ship. What worries me is those other bike brands that don't have a true bike geek like you in your position at their company!!
Aw, c'mon, it's not like it's rocket science...
...that's why they call it work...but then again you're the masiguy...know you're diligence and attention to detail is what makes the greatest bikes...
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